Vic one stop shop for community care
Federal Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot, and Minister for Senior Victorians, Lisa Neville, have launched a ‘one stop shop’ for community care in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
The eastern metropolitan region demonstration site in Knox will deliver services for older people and their carers. Fourteen such sites will be set up across Australia. The second Victorian site will be in Ballarat and will service the Grampians region.
The Access Point demonstration sites will draw together information about all the different types of community care services, provided by all levels of government, into one convenient location.
The Knox demonstration site will be known as Direct2Care and will help around 150,000 people aged over 65 years living in the eastern metro region. It will also assist GPs, carers and family members.
People unsure of what local services exist, what they are eligible for or how to access them, can phone the hotline number, 1300 121 121, and talk to experienced support workers.
They then contact local aged care services, who will in turn contact the person making the enquiry. Services that can be accessed include home help, respite, delivered meals, physiotherapy, eye care and property maintenance.
The Victorian demonstration sites are being set up with $1.2 million in funding from the Australian Government and $1.25 million from the Brumby Government.
Direct2Care will be operated by Uniting Care Community Options, one of the largest community care providers in Australia.
